Hawks dig deep after coach talk

CITY Hawks have won the last three AFL Mackay premierships, and looked like heading for a fourth when they won the minor premiership this year.

But all of that could have come to nothing if not for an emotional half-time speech by coach Dave Johnstone during their preliminary final against the Eastern Swans.

With his men on the brink of a finals exit, "playing terrible" and trailing the Swans by 23 at half-time, Johnstone had to say the right words to motivate them for a big second half.

"This is my last year coaching these guys, and I just said to them, 'I don't want this to be my last game, I just want one more week'," he said.

"And I wasn't saying it for me, I was saying it for them. We were playing terrible and I said, 'You blokes are better than this, you deserve to play in the grand final and I want to be there when you guys win it'.

"It was a pretty emotional sort of thing and the boys responded; we kept them (Swans) scoreless in the third quarter.

"It's very frustrating because I know how good they can be, but they just haven't been producing it."

Johnstone's Hawks are chasing a fourth consecutive premiership flag, but there's a strong Moranbah Bulldogs squad standing in their way.

But if the reigning premiers turn up and play "Hawks footy", Johnstone has no doubt they will claim that flag.